Title: Cilantro Trivia (Lot's of It!)
Categories: Herb Info
Yield: 1 Servings

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Hi, I'm new to the list but, as a Puerto Rican who grew up eating cilantro, I thought you all might be interested in some cilantro trivia.

There are three different plants generally available in the United States (or at least here in southern Florida!) with a cilantro flavor. They are:

CILANTRO (scientific name: Coriandrum sativum), a member of the carrot family whose foliage has a pungent and distinctive taste. The seeds have a completely different flavor and are sweetly aromatic with a taste that's hard to describe but has anise and citrusy tones to it. The seeds are known as "coriander" and the leaves are known as "cilantro" or "Chinese-parsley." The foliage and the seeds are NOT interchangeable in recipes (like one poster who used the seeds in a salsa recipe calling for the foliage). It may sound confusing to novices that two completely different flavor effects may be derived from different parts of the same plant. However, it's really not that strange. Just think of the different uses and flavor of, for example, orange juice versus orange zest (the outer rind of the orange). Another example of different culinary uses for different parts of the same plant is the dandelion (the roots may be roasted and ground as a coffee substitute, the foliage may be utilized as a potherb, and the flowers may be made into a fragrant wine). Clearly, one wouldn't use dandelion leaves in a recipe that called for dandelion flowers. So it is with cilantro (the foliage of the plant) and coriander (the seeds of the same plant). Cilantro/Coriander (remember, they are the same plant, just different names for different parts) is a winter annual that likes cool, but sunny, weather with plenty of moisture. In the north, it's usually a spring crop, in the south we plant it in the autumn.

CULANTRO (scientific name: Eryngium foetidum), is also a member of the carrot family just like cilantro, but is not really closely related. Culantro superficially resembles a dandelion and has coarsely toothed leaves growing in a basal rosette. As the leaves age, the tips of the teeth become very firm and spiny so it is best to cut it back frequently in order to produce plenty of tender new growth. Culantro is a tender perennial (that is, it won't take frost) that will grow in deep shade to full sun so long as it is given ample moisture. Unlike cilantro, which is an annual which dies after going to seed, culantro is a perennial which just keeps going and going.

VIETNAMESE-MINT (scientific name: Polygonum foetidum) is a plant in the same family as buckwheat, it is not at all related to cilantro and culantro which are in the carrot family. I don't know who came up with the silly name of "Vietnamese Mint" since, although it comes from Vietnam, there is nothing minty about it. Like culantro, Vietnamese-mint is a moisture-loving perennial which will grow in deep shade to full sun so long as it is given plenty of water. Plants here in south Florida can get immense, yet they never flower. Apparently, the plants in cultivation appear to have been selected by the Vietnamese for the production of ample quantities of tender, tasty leaves and seem to have lost the ability to flower. The cilantro-like flavor of Vietnamese-mint varies markedly depending on weather conditions (cool versus hot) and moisture conditions (dry versus wet). Additionally, like most members of the buckwheat family, the plants produce tannins and oxalic acid (especially in cool weather) and these compounds sometimes modify the underlying cilantro flavor by adding a sharp, acidic "bite."

EPAZOTE (scientific name: Chenopodium ambrosioides) has a strong, distinctive flavor and is utilized in the same manner as cilantro in Latin cuisine but they are NOT substitutes for each other. Confusing? Well, it's sort of like roses and gardenias. Both have strong, sweet fragrances. Both are grown as ornamental plants for their fragrant flowers. Both are utilized to make perfumes. But this doesn't mean they are equal and interchangeable. So it is with epazote and cilantro/culantro/Vietnamese-mint. Epazote and cilantro are both strong, distinctive flavors which, for most Americans (but not for Hispanics like myself), are an acquired taste, but their flavors are quite distinct from each other and they are not interchangeable.

Finally, one last bit of cilantro trivia. I read the following somewhere when I was just a kid but no longer remember the exact reference. The flavor/odor of cilantro is essentially the same as that of a crushed bedbug. According to this now forgotten reference, in some parts of tropical Asia, a simple and handy substitute for cilantro's flavor may be obtained by taking certain bugs and squeezing their "juice" onto food to give it a cilantro flavor. By the way, I don't find it at all disgusting and what's a little bug juice compared to the pungent pleasures of the sacred Capsicum, the god who brings foods to life? From: Xavier Date: 15 Jul 97 Chile-Heads List Ä

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